Friday, March 23, 2012

In life, there are some beings who enlighten your days, inspire you greatly and are refreshing. The same can be said about certain blogs or bloggers, and both Simone and her excellent site definitely belong to that category. Everytime I visitJunglefrog, you can be sure that I'll be delighted by her magazine-like pictures, marvelous sense of humor and lovely recipes. It is indubitably far from being mundane or soulless!

This zesty Dutch lady is a skilled professional photographer whose work never to fails to wow me. I really appreciate her very European way of immortalizing dishes and I wish I could have half of her talent with my Nikon. Yet not only is she an ace behind the camera, but she is also a masterful cook and baker who wizzes up amazing cakes, colorful salads, comforting casseroles, delectable appetizers, balanced main courses, luscious desserts, etc...

I discovered Junglefrog through The Daring Bakers and have been following her online journal regularly since at least three years, thus I have been lucky to witness its evolution and see how the pretty caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly over the years. So, the day Simone asked me if I would be interested in writing a guest post for her, I felt overwhelmed with joy and excitement and immediately said "yes" without needing to meditate over her generous proposition. It is an honor for me to have been given that opportunity and I am truly thankful that she thought of me!

When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmmm, boy.

- Jack Handy

As Simone is currently trying to focuse on healthy eating and as I love speaking about British grub, I thought that it would be wonderful if I shared my take on "Cornish Pasties" with her readers and spoke a bit about its origins.

I got the idea and urge to bake my own pasties while watching Saturday Kitchen on BBC1. On this program animated by celebrity chef James Martin I heard Rick Stein relate a sad event that happened in 1999 (read what the BBC has written on that subject) when a eminent New York Times journalist shamelessly declared that "Cornish Pasties" were bland, like doorstops and "generally God awful". [...]

So, if that short introduction made your mouth water and your tastebuds tingle, tickled your curiosity, captivated your attention and gave you the urge to read my article, then please hop on over to Junglefrogin order to read the whole article, get a glimpse of my pictures, discover my recipe and pay a visit to Simone.

Your crimping is perfect, and I love your take on the filling. I was not a big fan of Cornish pasties, but now with Cornwall at my doorstep, I've recently sampled the real thing, and they are delicious (the place I bought them from, in Padstow, recently placed second in a world Cornish pasty competition, and I'm going to sample number one this week end :) )

What a wonderful guest post with beautiful images and a very tasty looking recipe, too! Thanks for sharing, ladies. Also, I’m having a great giveaway today with four potential prize winners, so you should enter!

Hi Rosa! Wow this is my kind of pastry!! I'm totally attracted by the shot of this pastry. I like the sauerkraut + potato + cheddar in the nice bread... I'd definitely get this if it's in pastry shop! Hopping over now.

Hello Rosa! I just wanted to pop in and say hi and how much I adore your photography. I noticed we have many blogland friends in common, as I see you commenting on the same blogs I visit. I love your big pictures. Thanks for the inspiration!

I love Simone and her beautiful blog - you could not have chosen a better guest poster! Those pasties look incredible and I can only imagine how great they taste! Bravo on a spectacular guest post, Simone!

Ooh, i haven't had a pasty in years and cheddar is perhaps my favourite cheese. Congrats on your stunning guest post and mouthwatering photos. After reading this I'm also curious about The Saturday Kitchen.

Pasties have been on my to-do list ever since I had them for the first time at this place called The Cornish Pasty Company. Yours look so tempting, and remind me of those that I had there. I really need to make these!

Oh! How I miss delicious pasties like this. We used to frequent a neighborhood shop that makes excellent pasties when we were living in Singapore. Now that we are back in Malaysia, I have mostly Asian and once-in-while non-Asian food. Certain ingredients such as cheese are just too costly to purchase. So eat local is the way for now. Love the fillings you put in this crusty warm pocket. Excellent! Heading over to Jungle Frog now

Those pasties look very scrummy. I've never had them with sauerkraut before but can imagine it a great addition. There is a tea house in the town my Mom lives that serves Cornish Pasties and I often order one along with a Branston Pickle.

How delightful! you should open a bakery and I would send everyone to get cakes and pastries from yours :) The shape reminds me of Turkish pides for some reason. Love the stuffing and the broken open photograph. Amazing!